Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within our opening sequence we felt it was necessary to include a variety of stereotypical traits of young adults. By doing this it would mean that the audience who we are targeting our film at (15 to 25 year olds) would be able to relate to the main character.

Our opening sequence represents young teenage girls since this is what the main victim of the scene is. The character is represented as vulnerable since she is attacked by the stalker, and also walking around the streets at night by herself. She is dressed in clothes typical to what a teenage girl in the 21st century would be seen wearing. This character is fully representative of what you would think a stereotypical teen girl to look like. The fact that she is on her phone while walking down the road also relates to the stereotype of teenagers always being on their phone.

The other social group that features in our film would be adult males.Our character of the stalker is untypical of the usual type of male character you might see in a film. Usually in a horror film an adult male character might be the dad who tries to protect his family from what is happening to them in the film. An example of this type of character in a film would be Roger Perron from The Conjuring. In the film when his family are being possessed, etc he is trying to help to save as much as he can.

Typical male character from horror films. In the image you can also see how the family are cowering in the corner behind the dad showing how he is the power they look to for help and support

At the end of our film the stalker is revealed to be the detective of the town where all the teenage girls are being killed. Throughout the film the detective would be acting in the same sort of way the dad in The Conjuring does, and try to help. However, in our opening sequence it is the stalker character he is portrayed as.This shows how the stalker is obviously crazy and has a split personality, very similar to the character of Norman in Pyscho from 1960. Norman is shown to be completely normal character in the film who has to deal with his mother who keeps killing people, however at the end of the film it is revealed that Norman and his mother are actually the same person.

Even though our character of the stalker is portrayed similarly in another film, it is still very uncommon to see this type of character in a horror film being an adult male.

In this way then it can be seen that the characters in our opening sequence both do and don't represent particular social groups and how these groups are presented in films.

BY EMILY CARMICHAEL

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/ address your audience?

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Green Screen

When we were filming our evaluation question using the green screen we came across some difficulties. Firstly, we had to record the video twice on separate days because the first video we filmed we were sat too close together and we blocked the images we wanted to show behind us.

Also the green screen itself kept falling down, as you can see in the video. This meant we got distracted from what we were saying and had to put the screen back up properly so that when we were editing we could have the pictures we were talking about behind us.

Another thing was that we filmed in the school corridors which meant that people kept walking past or making noise. This was something we had to work around it.

We then had to edit all of the footage together, adding in the pictures and videos that we talked about so the whole thing came together. This was probably the easiest and quickest part of making this video since we were very distracted while filming. When we were talking it through we kept getting words wrong, or losing focus and laughing at ourselves.

Film Bloopers

This video shows some of the outtakes from our film and difficulties we had whilst producing our final piece.

Some of the features we struggled with were for example:

- Getting the camera to pan on the tripod straightaway without jumps. This took practice but we eventually got a smooth pan to add into our film.

- One of our main characters found it difficult to keep a straight face whilst being filmed e.g Lucy kept laughing when she was walking past the camera. We decided to film Lucy walking past when she's on her phone, this was beneficial as we wanted to portray her as a typical teenager and it also helped her focus.

- When we were filming the shot down the stairs, Emily's feet were still in the shot, however once we had added an effect to the shot the feet weren't able to be seen.

Behind the scenes

This is a video of some footage that we filmed whilst we were setting up the location for our stalkers den. 

We chose this location in a basement because it reflects the character of the stalker effectively; it was a creepy spot to film in and we feel the final video looks good due to this choice.

WWW & EBI

Creating our opening sequence we went through a variety of stages to reach our final piece. Such as researching, creating, filming and editing. We had to familiarise ourselves with all these elements in order to create an opening sequence we were proud of. Most of the programmes and equipment we had to use to carry out our task were new to us both so it took lots of practice to perfect our skills.
One of the most challenging parts of creating our opening sequence was initially thinking of a story line. In order to do this we had to create a synopsis. We found this challenging because we tried to link events that would happen earlier on in the film with ones towards the end to develop an effective plot. We also then had to design a storyboard of the first 2 minutes of our film. In order to have a clear plan of how we would film our opening sequence we decided to include things such as the shots we would use for each frame:

What went well in our opening sequence:

Looking back on the development of our opening sequence we feel there were many parts we enjoyed, particularly the editing which is the part that went well. Despite neither of us having any experience with using the programme 'Final cut pro' we were able to use it quickly and efficiently. We scanned through a variety of clips we had filmed to pick from to include in our opening sequence and fit them together. One problem we came across whilst editing was that the end of one of our frames was filmed incorrectly, therefore we had to cut the frame and put the end of one next to the beginning of the other. However because it was 2 separate clips there was a jump through the transition. To solve this problem we decided to add some jump cuts shortly after. This was effective as the jump cut paired with a loud bang we edited in helped add tension and build the opening sequence.
Another part of our opening sequence we feel is effective was the music we used. We decided to incorporate a track called 'Best horror music'. For a while we were content with this music however after watching our finished piece several times we decided it was missing something. So we added another track to play alongside the other. Overall we feel the music paired with our sequence adds to the fear factor and helps build tension.

Our opening sequence could be even better if:

Now that our opening sequence is complete we feel to improve its quality further we could of included a narrative voice over the top. The reason we both feel this is because a voice giving a brief description of what is going on or some history to the characters can make the film clearer to the viewers. Additionally depending on the tone and speed of the voice it could add to the level of scariness.


Overall we feel our opening sequence works well and we are proud of the work we carried out.

Age Rating

Whilst creating our opening sequence we decided after research that we would rate our film a 15. This is because after looking up the guidelines of what a 15 certificate entails we feel that ours fits this criteria:

Some features our film include are: scenes of strong violence- when the stalker viciously murders his victims. 

Strong language- when the father of the most recent victim is accused of murdering his own daughter and lashes out at the detective.

We also feel that the storyline of the film is quite complex and disturbed with the stalker also being the detective trying to solve the murder he's committed. The reason we feel this is because the fact that the stalker is acting as such contrasting characters portraying a split personality it therefore represents mental issues which can be a sensitive topic within a film. 

Finally the gruesome scenes of girls lying dead with an X engraved on their chest will be shown throughout the film and could trouble/upset the viewers.

Equipment

The equipment we used when filming our opening sequence was a tripod and a torch. Other than the camera we used to film everything with we didn't really need much else.


We used the tripod to hold the camera still so we could get a good shot without the shaky movements you would get if we used handheld all the time to film. We used the tripod when doing the panning shot of the victim walking past the camera, when we filmed the zooming out of the pictures on the wall and when we filming the stalker walking towards the camera. All the other shots were taken from a handheld position to give a shaky effect, and make it look as if the shot is from the point of view of the stalker - a point of view shot.

This is what the tripod we used looked like.

The only other piece of equipment we used when filming was a torch. We used this to light up the pictures on the wall as the camera moved over them, to give general lighting on to the stalkers masked face when we filmed outside in the dark, and to give us light when we filmed in the basement.

This is what the torch we used looked like.

Costume and Props

These are the actual costumes and props that we used in our final opening sequence:

The Stalker:

This is the scream mask that we used as the mask for the stalker in our film to wear.

We decided this would be a good mask to use since we already owned it, and it is also a mask typical of horror films and we wanted to capture this sense of horror within our opening sequence; by using this mask which many people will associate with the horror genre it allowed us to do this. 

This is the black hoodie we used. We decided that the stalker in our films should be wearing this as it makes the character look creepy. By wearing this with the hood up it gave a sense of mystery to the character and also made him able to be feared since he is unable to be identified as a person.

Using the mask and the hoodie together on our stalker character meant that a sense of fear was able to be implanted into the film just through the costume. Not knowing who the person is in the mask is a good way to get the audience interested but also scared straight away as the film starts.

The Victim:

For the victim character we didn't have a  set piece of clothing that we wanted the character to wear. We just said to Lucy that she should wear whatever she normally would as this would make the character more relatable to our target audience (15-25 year olds). We also got her to use her phone as she walked past the camera as this made it more realistic of a regular teenager and one who is vulnerable to the stalker because she is not fully interacting with her surroundings.  

Music and Sound Effects

In our opening sequence the music and sound effects we used really help to create the horror effect we wanted in our film.

Music

The main piece of music that is playing in the background of our film is called red room. It was a piece that as already downloaded onto our computer and we thought it was appropriate to use in our film. We edited and played around with this sound until we found a place in the opening sequence where it fitted best. This was just as the scene moves outside and the establishing shot of the street appears on the screen.

Throughout the whole film as an underlying tone, we found a piece called 'best horror soundtracks' and we used this to play in the background of every scene. This music was quite slow-paced and haunting and is used from start to finish in our opening.

Sound Effects

Some of the sound effects we used we added in and others we part of the scene when we filmed. The very first scene in X Marks the Spot is a shot down the crooked ladders to the basement, while we filmed this part there was a squeaking noise that can be heard in the clip, and this was caused by an electricity meter. We were originally going to cut it out as we didn't realise you could hear it in the final shot, but after some thought we decided that it actually worked well in creating a creepy tone to start the film.

Another sound effect which we had was the turning on of the light switch. When the lights come on in the basement, before the camera zooms out on the wall, the light being turned on at the switch can be heard. We also decided to leave this in the film because it was a real sound that you would hear as you turn on a light so it made sense to leave it in and give our opening a realistic feel.

All the other sound effects we added in, such as the whistling. When the stalker is walking up behind the victim we thought it would be a good idea to have him whistle as it makes him seem very relaxed and casual, but also quite creepy. It is a good way of showing how he is mentally unstable because he is so relaxed moments before he is about to kill someone.

The final sound effect we used was the 'banging' noise as the jump cuts happen. These were added to give more tension to the jumps when they happened.